Used EBook Reader Reviews – Sony Digital Book Reader Prs505 Review

Get ready for a big influx of used eBook reader devices hitting eBay and Amazon and as such, more eBook reader reviews. A mix of Christmas and the recent release of the new range of Sony digital book reader should see more second user models, like the prs505, for sale.

Some of the first generation models are now getting on for three years old, and given these were purchased by consumers who like to own the cutting edge technology, expect these to be swapped in for today’s new generation of devices as there has never been a better time to buy than now.

Price changes aside, other important changes are going on in the electronic book market, one of the main changes being a shift towards some kind of industry standard file format. It certainly looks like it could be the ePub standard if recent developments are anything to go by.

How is this going to be of any consequence when considering which used eBook reader you are going to buy. Well, let’s take the Sony prs505 for example, as this will, without doubt, be one of the devices being traded in.

When this device was released times where very different, the two biggest sellers, Amazon and Sony, where going down the proprietary route, and offered little or no support for any other format, in particular any that let you access free content.

In today’s market place, everything is now all about giving the customer freedom to purchase or download for free, from any source. To do this the new generation of eBook reading devices, the new Sony digital book reader edition range being a good point in case, have to give the user the tools to do it. ePub and PDF are the formats of free content, and in Sony’s case they did not support either on their first gen models and shame on you Amazon Kindle, neither the Kindle 1 or 2 have natural support for either format.

The complete Google library is printed in both PDF and ePub, libraries publish in ePub – see where this is going? – and now all the major online bookstores (except Amazon that is) print their titles in ePub. This allows users of eBook readers, that have support for these file formats, choice…choice of where to buy their electronic books, choice to download and read thousands and even hundreds of thousands of free public domain titles, choices they have never had before.

Where does that leave the Sony prs 505, there is no need for a review, as such, there are plenty about to know the features and design/build quality of this model, but there is a need for an update of how it fits in to the landscape today.

I can keep this short and sweet. With the way things have gone regarding the emergence of ePub as the industry standard in everything but name, as a used eBook reader this Sony digital book reader does not even warrant consideration.

With no ePub or PDF support the prs-505 will leave you unable to take advantage of so many free titles, there are far better equipped second hand eBook readers coming on to the market. Try looking for some of the lesser known models like the Cooler or Bebook, both have ePub and PDF support, which is what you need. Check out some of my other eBook reader reviews, be patient and that used eBook reader will turn up, just make sure it’s not a used Sony digital book reader.